The Texas Health Department appointed an anti-abortion OB-GYN to its Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee this week to the ire of pro-abortion activists and mainstream media outlets.
The doctor, in an exclusive interview with The Dallas Express, said criticism of her appointment was aimed at squashing the silent majority of OB-GYNs who are uncomfortable with abortion without restrictions.
“The reality is that only roughly 10% of obstetricians will perform an elective abortion, but all obstetricians will care for a woman in the tragedy of a miscarriage,” Dr. Ingrid Skop told DX.
“I am an expert clinician, and I am motivated by careful consideration of the data, including critiques of data deficiencies, of which there are many in the U.S. CDC’s examination of maternal deaths,” she continued. “My interest in the issue of abortion will inform another aspect of the discussion and will likely lead to a broader examination of all the factors that contribute to maternal mortality, including investigation of all pregnancy outcomes.”
Skop serves as the vice president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an anti-abortion research organization. Her appointment to the Texas committee, which reviews pregnancy-related deaths and the impact of abortion laws, sparked criticism from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) — the leading membership organization for OB-GYNs.
“We believe that all members of the MMRC should be unbiased, free of conflicts of interest, and focused on the appropriate standards of care when evaluating maternal mortality and morbidity in Texas, which were already at unacceptably high levels even before Texas passed its abortion bans and restrictions,” ACOG said in a statement about Skop’s appointment, per The Guardian.
ACOG has faced criticism from medical experts for issuing allegedly flimsy research in favor of late-term abortions, as reported by The Washington Free Beacon. The group’s PAC spends heavily in favor of Democratic candidates each election cycle, according to Open Secrets.
Skop said ACOG plays an important role in her field but, unfortunately, leans into activism on the issue of abortion.
“Most of ACOG’s clinical guidance is developed by experts in the field, and I have found their guidance reliable for use in my clinical practice, but ACOG’s published opinions on abortion are based on ideology, not science,” she told DX. “For example, they call abortion evidence-based healthcare, however, there are no high-quality studies addressing what disease is being treated with the abortion of a healthy baby in a healthy mother.”
Skop said she agrees with ACOG’s assertion that the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee should remain unbiased — a standard she added ACOG fails to meet.
“I am a Hippocratic physician,” she told DX. “I do not recommend ending life in order to address complex social issues. The leadership of ACOG, on the other hand, demonstrates its bias when it states without evidence that ‘abortion is necessary healthcare’ and proudly asserted in an op-ed that there should be no limits on abortion, for any reason, at any time in pregnancy.”
“Unfortunately, it cannot be proven that ACOG represents the views of its members on this issue, as they have never surveyed the membership about our views on abortion during the 30 years that I have been a member,” she continued.
